The Spectacle Blog

Once upon a time critics of corporate America complained that executive salaries were too high, and too often disconnected from the performance of the firm. Senior managers are making millions while the company loses money—where’s the logic in that? So today many firms, including large banks and other financial services companies, have performance-based compensation packages—at least some of the money executives make is tied to the firm’s annual profits. Now incentives are aligned smartly, right?

This might be the most disturbing thing I've ever seen, and that's actually saying a lot.

Every year, I serve as an on-call counsel for 40 Days for Life, a national program of prayer and sidewalk counseling that goes for the 40 days before Easter (and now, I believe, there's also a fall program). It's mostly an unventful job, but a few years ago, I received a call in the middle of the night from a terrified woman who'd been praying in front of a Michigan abortion clinic. The clinic owner, who had quite the reputation for his barbaric practices, had been seen taking out the weekly "trash," which consisted of a number of small garbage bags. Curious, the protesters had looked in the Dumpster. The bags were filled with human remains - baby parts, disposed of like common waste, instead of with the care required for ostensibly biohazardous materials. It was horrifying. All those tiny bodies.

Originally reported by WFTS, the excerpt is from a report by Fox News:

Ryan Koch of Des Moines started the Change.org petition [six] days ago and it already has over 13,000 signatures.

“I say all of us European Americans start protesting C****er Barrel,” Koch writes in the petition opening. “It uses an offensive slur and it is deeply offensive and mocks our long and proud heritage.”

Koch wrote that he started the petition to address “media reports of various groups and organizations constantly wanting to change things throughout the country because they claim they are offended,” reports WFTS.

Koch goes on to offer an alternative restaurant name—“Caucasian Barrel” because “white people should have something to be offended by, too!”

Koch reiterated that he started the petition “strictly for satirical and comedic purposes.”

While this petition may have been created for “satirical and comedic purposes,” other examples aren’t taken so lightheartedly.

The snarkiest thing I have read about the nuclear deal with Iran comes from Jessica Schulberg of the Huffington Post. There is much to be snarky about concerning the Iran nuclear deal. Unfortunately, Schulberg’s snark is directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu’s judgment of the 159-page agreement came before the public release of the text of the deal. He blamed the nuclear agreement on the willingness of the negotiators to reach a deal “at any cost,” a thinly veiled criticism of President Barack Obama, whom the Israeli premier has long sparred with on the topic of Iran’s nuclear program.

Barack Obama’s top foreign policy objective from the time he declared his candidacy for the White House in February 2007 was to engage with Iran for the purpose of negotiating a nuclear agreement. He told Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes:

I think that the notion that this administration has — that not talking to our enemies is effective punishment — is wrong. It flies in the face of our experiences during the Cold War. Ronald Reagan understood that it may be an evil empire, but it’s worthwhile for us to periodically meet to see are there areas of common interest.

But whatever skepticism Emily might have concerning Walker's positions on abortion, corn subsidies and immigration, I believe they are effectively neutralized by the words that were uttered by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

Scott Walker is a national disgrace.

I can assure you that Richard Trumka doesn't think Scott Walker is a national disgrace because he is insufficiently conservative.

A week or so ago, my friend Lisa De Pasquale over at Breitbart, penned an article about how this election cycle is shaping up to be Gen-X versus Baby Boomers. In it, she pointed out that while Hillary Clinton might not be too old to be President (I mean, seriously, the GOP once ran John McCain who knows so much about foreign policy because he was around with Pangea broke apart), she certainly acts old - way older than should be socially acceptable or electorally palatable.

Today, Hillary spent half her speech railing on the Wall Street banks that make up a significant part of her donor base, and the other half complaining about these young whippersnappers and their newfangled smartphones with the texting and the Facebooking and the Ubering. I mean, who do they think they are, circumventing an antiquated and burdensome, union-driven transportation boondoggle with ingenuity and common sense and a cooperative network that allows individuals to purchase products on a free market that they themselves police?

Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian’s time in captivity in Iran has also been extended indefinitely as his espionage trial has resumed in Tehran. Read what Saeed Kamali Dehghan has written in the Guardian about the proceedings:

There has been international condemnation of the prolonged detention of the 39-year-old, who was working in Iran with appropriate accreditation and has had two hearings since May. Iran has a history of jailing journalists working for the foreign press. Its intelligence authorities have a deep suspicion of citizens with dual nationality. Iran does not recognise dual nationality and thus treats Rezaian solely as an Iranian.

There are only a few people who can get seated at any restaurant in the Hamptons without making a reservation first. That list might include Billy Joel, Howard Stern, maybe that woman from the Food Network who runs the gourmet store in the neighborhood, probably Barack Obama.

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